Aldehydes reaction with organolithium compounds

In contrast, the A -silylenamine (186) reacts in conventional fashion with acyl halides R COCl in the presence of KF to give (187), and in the same vein tris(trimethylsilyl)ketenimine when treated sequentially with an aldehyde and alkali gives (Z)-alk-2-enenitriles in good jdeld and high isomeric purity. A-Silylimines derived from non-enolizable aryl aldehydes and ketones give secondary or tertiary carbinamines respectively on reaction with organolithium compounds. ... 

A great nnmber of chiral bidentate nitrogen and oxygen ligands, which served well with other cations than lithinm, are known . Only very limited success was achieved with organolithium compounds in the classical examples of addition reactions onto aldehydes 335-337... 

These compounds are sources of the nucleophilic anion RC=C and their reaction with primary alkyl halides provides an effective synthesis of alkynes (Section 9 6) The nucleophilicity of acetylide anions is also evident m their reactions with aldehydes and ketones which are entirely analogous to those of Grignard and organolithium reagents... 

Organolithium and organomagnesium compounds find their- chief use in the preparation of alcohols by reaction with aldehydes and ketones. Before discussing these reactions, let us first exanine the reactions of these organometallic compounds with proton donors. 

One of the important new directions in the study of addition reactions of organozinc compounds to aldehydes is the use of ionic liquids. Usually, application of these compounds in reactions with common organometallic reagents has a serious problem ionic solvents are usually reactive toward them, particularly Grignard and organolithium derivatives. It has been recently reported that carbonyl compounds react with allylzinc bromide formed in situ from allyl bromide and zinc in the ionic liquid 3-butyl-l-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, [bmim][BF4].285 Another important finding is that the more reactive ZnEt2 alkylates aldehydes in a number of ionic liquids at room temperature.286 The best yields (up to 96%) were obtained in A-butylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate, [bpy][BF4] (Scheme 107). 

For aU the chiral intermediates above mentioned (253, 257 and 258) the reaction with prochiral electrophiles (aldehydes or differently substituted ketones) gave a c 1 1 mixture of diastereomers so, as occurred in other chiral functionalized organolithium compounds, the asymmetric induction is practically non-existent. 

The competition between insertion and hydrogen transfer is also crucial to the selectivity of the reaction of aluminium alkyls with carbonyl compounds. Aluminium alkyls, like organolithium compounds and Grignard reagents, can add to aldehydes and ketones to form secondary or tertiary alcohols, respectively. If the aluminium alkyl has a j -hydrogen, however, reduction of the carbonyl compound is a common side reaction, and can even become the main reaction [16]. Most authors seem to accept that reduction involves direct j5-hydrogen transfer to ketone. 

Alkyltrisidialkylamino)titanium derivatives, R Ti(NR2)3. ) These reagents are readily available by reaction of halotris(dialkylamino)titanium with organolithium or -magnesium compounds. The reagents, prepared in situ in ether, react with nonenolizable aldehydes to give tertiary amines (1), possibly via an iminium salt (equation I). With enolizable aldehydes and ketones, the reaction results in enamines after nonaqueous workup. 

Benzyl methyl ether or allyl methyl ethers can be selectively metalated at the benzylic/allylic position by treatment with BuLi or sBuLi in THF at -40 °C to -80 C, and the resulting organolithium compounds react with primary and secondary alkyl halides, epoxides, aldehydes, or other electrophiles to yield the expected products [187, 252, 253]. With allyl ethers mixtures of a- and y-alkylated products can result [254], but transmetalation of the lithiated allyl ethers with indium yields y-metalated enol ethers, which are attacked by electrophiles at the a position (Scheme 5.29). Ethers with ft hydrogen usually undergo rapid elimination when treated with strong bases, and cannot be readily C-alkylated (last reaction, Scheme 5.29). Metalation of benzyl ethers at room temperature can also lead to metalation of the arene [255] (Section 5.3.11) or to Wittig rearrangement [256]. Epoxides have been lithiated and silylated by treatment with sBuLi at -90 °C in the presence of a diamine and a silyl chloride [257]. 

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